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NJ senator to introduce marijuana legalization bill Monday

Denverpotjobs.jpg

Jobs seekers line up around the block to attend CannaSearch, Colorado's first cannabis job fair, on March 13, 2014 in Denver, Colorado. Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Union) said he will introduce a bill Monday legalizing marijuana, emulating the Colorado law.
(Getty Images)

Sen. Nicholas Scutari, (D-Union), a municipal prosecutor who sponsored the medical marijuana law, will hold a press conference at the Statehouse Monday afternoon to discuss how the legislation would work. Scutari said he envisioned a system similar to the state’s medical marijuana laws in that facilities would have to be licensed to grow and sell pot.

Scutari has said he intended to model the bill after Colorado, which netted $2 million in sales tax for the first month of marijuana sales in January. But revenue is not the most important impetus for the change, Scutari said, declaring the war on marijuana a "failure." Changing the law would dry up the illegal drug market and clean up neighborhood street corners, he said.

"We’re not delusional about how simple the effort would be," Scutari said. "But I think from a standpoint of moving this state and this country forward on its archaic drug laws, I think it’s a step in the right direction."

The bill's prospects of getting signed into law are slim to none as long as Gov. Chris Christie is in office. The Republican former prosecutor has repeatedly said he would never sign legislation that legalizes or even decriminalizes marijuana possession because of the message it would send to kids.

Even Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) has said he is in no rush to push the measure through the legislature.

"I'm open to listening to Nick Scutari's suggestions on this," Sweeney said, praising Scutari for having "the courage to talk about marijuana. He is positioning New Jersey" to act on the matter when a new governor is elected.